I agree, but I want to push back a little in that it didn't really work as well as we thought. Yes they had a big day rushing the ball, but they got stoned a TON as well. They only scored 14 points. They only had 241 yards of offense and 11 first downs. I loved that game and am very glad it played out the way it did. But it wasn't like the Pats were just pounding the ball down their throat all night long.
Here were NE's possessions:
3 plays, -1 yards, punt
3 plays, 5 yards, punt
3 plays, 69 yards, TD (the 64-yard TD run on 3rd down by Harris)
9 plays, 52 yards, FG
3 plays, 4 yards, punt
4 plays, 25 yards, half
5 plays, 4 yards, punt
14 plays, 59 yards, FG
3 plays, 6 yards, punt
4 plays, -9 yards, game (we won't count this one as it was just them kneeling to end the game)
So in 9 legitimate possessions, the Pats had one great possession (the TD) highlighted by one huge run on 3rd and 5 for a long TD. They had two solid possessions that ended up in field goals. And the rest were garbage, where they got absolutely stuffed. I don't want to play the "if you take this one away" game because every play counted, but if we take away the 64 yard TD, the Pats ran for 158 yards on 45 carries. Take away the last possession, and it was 167 yards on 41 carries, which is 4.1 yards a carry.
Which is PHENOMENAL when facing 9, 10, and 11 men fronts selling out to stop the run. So I want to give full credit for that because you're not supposed to get those kinds of yards against that kind of defense.
BUT...it didn't really lead to that much production in reality. 241 total yards is a bad offensive game. 11 first downs is a terrible offensive game. 14 points is a bad offensive game. I'm fully on board with how they chose to play it given the weather conditions, but let's not pretend that they rammed it down Buffalo's throat all night long. They had one great run, two other solid drives, and the rest of the game they got absolutely stuffed.
What I thought was outstanding was the way it ate up time of possession. That was a huge factor and a big reason they won the game. But McDermott is right - at the end of the game, Buffalo had two great chances to score and win the game, and they couldn't. Missed FG and then the fourth down stop at the end.